Metal Rusts
by ForeverChocolateRoses
Summary: The New X-Men are back! Unable to stop the new Sentinel threat, they call on the New Warriors. Loves are tested, friendships are strained and Santo... is being Santo. Sequel to 'Made of Metal'. Helix
1. Chapter 1

**Metal Rusts**

**Chapter 1**

**A/N: And we're back! ForeverChocolateRoses has (at long last) returned! It feels great to be back writing this, I just needed a break. **

**Anyways, to the story. I will still focus on Cessily but with a LOT more Helix. I **_**may **_**have to create some non-canon romances (possibly involving Elixir, that's all I'm saying...), just for the plot to fit in well. That and Elixir/Loa annoys me for some reason. It's still AU and **_**doesn't **_**fit in with canon continuity.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed 'Made of Metal' and hopefully you'll continue to do the same here!**

**Enjoy**

_The crowd were screaming her name. The bright lights danced through her auburn tresses. She looked beautiful; her pale skin seemed to be glowing with radiance. The crowd were chanting for an encore and who was she to refuse them? She raised the pink jewel encrusted microphone to her lips and began her melodious-_

_-BREEP BREEP!-_

Cessily Kincaid groaned she blindly fumbled around for the snooze button on her alarm clock. She eventually gave up and flattened the irritating device with a custom made mercury hammer-hand; that _evil _and_ vindictive _little machine had interrupted her moment of sheer happiness with its obnoxious little beeping.

She yawned, sleepily pulling herself off of her bed; she sat up and stretched her joint-less arms to the sky. Her silver eyes flicked over the mess of cogs and other bits and pieces that were formerly her alarm clock. Needless to say, this one had gone to the big clock factory in the sky, a fate shared with its many, many predecessors.

Her legs automatically carried her towards her wardrobe to pull out a suitable outfit. On her trek to the other side of the room, she noticed that her roommate's bed was empty and neatly made, a stark comparison to Cessily's messy and disorderly portion of the room.

_Huh, Laura must be training... or out with Julian, _Cessily pondered, however her answer was found when she noticed her green, corset-like top, one that had been greatly admired by Laura, was missing for her closet.

The thought of how happy Laura had been when she and Julian had first got together brought a smile to Cessily's face. It had changed her for the better; she seemed to be more social than before and was acting like the teen that so many people forgot she was.

It had shocked Cessily how much she was changing; she had started to borrow Cessily's clothes, ask advice and even once asked Cessily how to apply make-up. Which had then lead to a trip to mainland San Francisco to buy make up for sensitive skin because apparently using eyeliner on super-sensitive skin _is a bad idea._

In retrospect, they _probably _should've taken that into consideration.

As she finished dressing, she walked out of her door into the corridor, she saw a few people she recognised but hadn't been on Utopia long enough to get cosy. She wandered further until she stumbled across a group of her friends crowded around TV.

Santo sat with his back against the wall; Nori had her head resting on David's shoulder and Julian and Laura were cuddling on the sofa. **('Cuddling' was sickening to write...)**

"What's on?" Cessily asked, grabbing everyone's attention.

"News," Santo grunted briefly.

She moved over to get a better look at the TV and sat on the arm on the sofa. The woman's voice cut into the silence of the room.

"_...and more measures are being taken to limit the mutant threat. The government assures us that this new Sentinel robot is completely safe among humans. The robots locate and capture unregistered mutants. It has been very popular amongst human supremacist groups such as the Purifiers and Friends of Humanity..." _she spoke before Julian turned down the volume to speak himself.

"This is sick. They're talking about us like we're rats."

"In their eyes, we are," Nori added in.

"You know that this is just one step from putting us in cages and experimenting on us..." Laura visibly tensed when Julian mentioned 'cages',

He noticed her flinching and wrapped his arm around her shoulders,

"No, I didn't mean it like that..."

"I understand, Julian. I also agree; this has been a step too far."

Cessily looked on at the TV, the woman still talking about this new legislation; she seemed to be in favour of it by how she was, blatantly, promoting it. She looked back at her friends; their faces mirroring each others in concern and fear.

Uneasy knots formed in her stomach and worried thoughts passed through her mind; these Sentinels were apparently far more 'advanced' that the ones they had defeated. If they had barely scraped through them; how were they going to cope with this?

**A/N: Okay, okay, I know it's short but I just wanted something to introduce the story into, it will get longer, promise! This may be irrelevant, but volnaib (who recognised 'Made of Metal' from my deviantART account [Gravity-is-Optional), I told you I would have it up within a week!**

**DISCLAIMER: I'M TOO CRAZY TO OWN X-MEN**


	2. Chapter 2

**Metal Rusts**

**A/N: Still getting used to the different title.**

**IMPORTANT! Well, kinda. I'm thinking of writing a New X-Men request series. You know how these work; you send in what characters, pairings or scenarios you want and I'll write it. Anything (lime, maybe but not lemon) from angst to generally stupidity (Mary-Sue bashing requests are oh, so accepted). Leave a review to tell me what you think of this idea –and also the chapter! **

**Here's the new (and very girlish, the violence will come later) chapter anyways. Enjoy!**

Laura lunged forward, claws extended at her target. Cessily dodged her attack and responded with one of her own. Their friendship meant nothing to them now. The fight had been going on for maybe fifteen minutes now and both knew that this could go on all night; neither would tire, neither could be injured.

Laura stabbed at Cessily's torso but her claws passed harmlessly through. Cessily's hand expanded and made a grab for Laura's face; she made heal but she could still suffocate.

As Cessily moved towards her, Laura leapt up and aimed a kick right for Cessily's head. Her foot collided with the metal girl's cranium and hit her so hard; she was reduced to a puddle of mercury.

The claxon sounded, citing Laura as the victor. The pool of mercury was slowly but steadily reforming itself into its default form of a human girl.

Laura retracted her claws and offered her hand to her closest friend, which she gratefully accepted. She pulled her up to her full height.

"You fighting capability has vastly improved, I am impressed," Laura said, pride evident in her voice.

"Thanks," Cessily replied, stretching her non-existent muscles, "It still ain't anything near what you can do."

"Yes, however I've had a lot longer to practice."

"I guess so. Hey, are you doing anything later? That new 'Heartstrings and Gunshots' **(made that up, very proud)** movie is out, we could go see it!"

"Yes, well... You see; Julian and I..."

"Ohhhh! You and Julian off on a hot date!"

Laura blushed furiously, "I would not put it like that..."

"Well I would!"

"Clearly."

Cessily grabbed Laura's hand and pulled her towards the door.

"Well, you ain't leaving until me and my make-up bag getting our hands on you!

**In Cessily's Room**

"Laura, this won't work if you keep closing your eyes," Cessily sighed, holding a sensitive-skin kohl pencil.

"I do not see the need for you to draw on my face to enhance aesthetic pleasure."

"If that means what I think it does, then it's because it makes your eyes pretty. Just look," she held up a small mirror.

"Yes," Laura mused as she looked at her reflection, "I must admit that I do like it."

"And I know Julian will too. Now turn around, I wanna curl your hair."

She lifted the now heated curling tongs from the dresser beside her and started to curl her friend's hair. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Laura said,

"Cessily; may I ask you a question?"

"Sure, what's on your mind?"

"What were you like before your mutation?"

Cessily was taken aback for a moment by the forwardness of her question.

"Well, umm, I was human. My mom stayed at home a lot and my dad worked for some bank somewhere, I don't know, he changed job, like, every other week. School was good. I got okay grades and I was a cheerleader, which pretty much made me instantly popular and, honestly, kinda shallow. I had a boyfriend too..." she looked reminiscent.

"What was he like?"

"He was called Jake and he was head of the football team. My friends introduced us a party and they said that we looked good together, so we started dating. He was hot, definitely but..." she hesitated.

"But what?"

"I never really thought about it before. I guess I always had this thing in my head where I had him totally glorified but now... I can see that he wasn't all he was cracked up to be.

"He was okay, I guess but never great. He was _way _anti-mutant, though. I don't think he ever found out about me being, well, Mercury."

"What else were you like?"

"I pretty much starved myself to keep skinny. It was the whole thing, _'you wanna be a cheerleader, you gotta be thin', _she mimicked in a nasally accent, "I was way prettier too."

"I see."

"Well," Cessily said, finishing the last strand of Laura's hair, "We are good to go. And perfect timing too."

Laura glanced at the clock, "But we are ten minutes late."

"Have you never heard of being fashionably late? You want him to know that you've taken your time getting dressed up for him but not that you were breaking your neck for him either. It keeps them interested."

"I shall take your word for it," she headed for the door, "And Cessily?"

"Yeah?"

"You may think that you are not as pretty but I think that you are beautiful."

She walked out, leaving a slightly shock and very happy Cessily behind.

"Thanks Laura."

**A/N: Yes, Laura does seem really OOC at the end but I meant it in a way that she said she was a beautiful person, inside and out, rather than just pretty.**

**Sorry this took so long, writer's block's had me killed. It wasn't my best work, I'll admit but I like the ending; it's my inner fluff addict.**

**Thanks for reading and I hope you review but if you don't, well, at least I hope that you've enjoyed it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I CLAIM NO OWNERSHIP ON THIS FINE ESTABLISHMENT KNOWN AS THE X-MEN  
>JAKE, HOWEVER I MADE UP OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD WHEN I WAS HALF ASLEEP<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Metal Rusts Chapter 3**

**A/N: If it wasn't for something that someone said to me on deviantART; this story would've never been continued.**

Cessily was bored.

Not just regular bored; bored as in 'would rather be in a twelve hours of class with Miss Frost' bored. She flicked from channel to channel of the TV; _ad, ad, crappy, ad, ad. _She lay on one of the hard sofas, he face squished into a pillow as she desperately tried to find something to quench her thirst for entertainment.

Her attention was drawn to the hulking rock monster that had just squeezed through the door and plonked himself in one of the armchairs beside her.

"Nothing on?" he asked her, judging from the monotone that laced his voice, he was as bored as she.

"Absolutely nothing."

"Ugh," he groaned, "So _bored._"

"I know, right? Laura's out with her new toyboy and I'm stuck here."

"Same. Julian's away with his new arm candy and ditched me."

The two looked at each other in silence before laughing loudly at each other's attempts to wind the other up.

"So what do you wanna do?" he asked.

"Who said I wanted to do anything with you?"

"Okay then, you can stay here with the crap on the TV; I'll just go enjoy life."

"You know I'm just messing, Santo."

"I know. We could go get drunk?"

"Two flaws in this plan, 1) neither of us can get drunk, I'm metal and you're made of rock, 2) Even if we could get drunk, how are you planning on getting any drinks? Miss Frost's telepathic and we can't exactly go out looking the way we do."

"Jesus, Cess; don't be such a downer. Game of pool?"

"...You're on."

**In the Rec Room**

"Dammit!" Santo yelled as he missed again.

"This really isn't your game, huh?" she morphed her hand into a cue and lined up her next shot.

"I dunno. Just got stuff on my mind."

"You? Stuff on your mind? I'm truly shocked Mr. Vaccarro."

"You would be. Lucky shot," he said as she potted three balls at once and returned to sitting on the arm of the sofa.

"Maybe I'm just talented."

"Maybe it's a lucky shot."

"Maybe."

"Maybe."

They laughed slightly at their terrible attempts at humour.

"Santo?" Cessily asked as they ended their laughter.

"Yeah," he asked, trying to line up a shot.

"Do you miss the Institute? Like miss when we were just Hellion and the Hellions? Before the New X-Men, before M-Day, before... Laura."

"...Yeah, yeah I do."

"It was so much easier back then. Back then all we were worried about was whether Julian and Sofia were gonna kill each other or start making out and trying to desperately try to keep up with Miss Frost's standards," she chuckled lightly at the memory.

"Yeah, I remember. None of the soldier crap we have to put up with now."

"I miss it so much. We were just kids. We still are."

"Things change, people change. Why bother trying to stopping it?"

"If you think about it like that, then why bother to do anything? Why bother to try and change things when you know it's impossible? Isn't that what the X-Men are? Protecting a world that hates us?"

He looked at her for a minute, shocked at her profound words.

"Y'know, I think I miss the ditzy Cess. The new one's all deep."

"Santo!" she stretched out her arm and slapped him upside the head.

"I was trying to be nice!"

"I know. C'mere," she hopped off her seat and pulled the Italian-American into a tight hug. She wrapped her arms around his huge waist as he placed his hands on her back and pulled her close.

She could just about hear him mutter,

"Don't grow up on me, Cess. I still need my little sister."

**Later**

"When did they say they'd be back?" Santo called through the door.

"I dunno. But it's been like, what? Five hours now?" she replied, walking through the doors carrying a bowl of popcorn. She sat on the other half of the sofa as him and swung her lugs up so they rested on his lap.

"Is he ever coming back?" he grabbed the popcorn bowl out of her hand and grabbed a handful.

"Dunno. Hey, maybe they've eloped!"

"Julian? Married? Not a hope in hell."

She snorted lightly, "True. He strikes me as more of a 'love 'em and leave 'em' kinda guy."

"And Laura strikes me as a 'try anything and get gutted' kinda girl."

"S...S...Santo! That's... that's terrible!" she tried to say between laughs.

They burst into laughter, shaking with it when the bowl containing the popcorn fell off its resting place of her knees and spilled its contents everywhere.

The just looked at it and laughed harder. They didn't know why they found it so hilarious, but they could guess it was because they needed something to laugh about in these times. Neither had felt this happy for as long as they could remember. They had missed each other's company.

They had started gasping for breath, clutching their (missing) stomachs. The felt dizzy from the laughter, though neither even needed to breathe.

"Oh, I missed times like this," she said, hiccupping lightly.

"Yeah, I haven't been this happy since we got to Utopia. It's like being back in New York."

The finished their laughing fits, with a chuckle or two still escaping. They looked at each other for a bit, not saying anything and leaned in closer and closer until...

"You guys in here?" a familiar voice called. Julian.

"They're back!" Cessily jumped up and ran out the door, leaving a slightly crestfallen Santo sitting there. He sighed and got up to follow the metallic girl.

By the time he got to them, Cessily had Laura by the hand, dragging her towards their room.

"Hey, man," Julian said, "So what did I miss?"

"... I think I nearly made out with Cess."

**A/N: Yeah, I went there.**

**DISCLAIMER: IF I OWNED X-MEN, X-23 #19 WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. BUT IT DID.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Metal Rusts Chapter 4**

**A/N: I'm on a roll. A little short, but I like it.**

Cessily was dragging her bewildered companion through the corridors, nearly running several people over in the process. She nearly crashed through their door in her excitement. She hopped over to her bed, dragging Laura with her.

"Tell me everything!" she squeed, her face lighting up with glee.

"I was cloned from a damaged cell of..."

"No! I mean everything from your date!"

"I know," Laura said with a sly smile.

"You... you just... did you just make a joke?"

"I believe so."

"Miracles do happen. Now spill!"

"I enjoyed myself greatly. It was a very pleasing experience that I hope to repeat again."

"As wonderful as that is, I need details and I need them now!" she grabbed her clawed companion's arms and shook her.

"Well, after we said our farewells, I met him in the foyer and we continued on to mainland San Francisco. Pixie teleported us. I enjoy Pixie's company, she makes me laugh," she started to trail off.

"Yes, we all love Pixie, now keep going."

"When we reached our destination, he took me to a restaurant."

"Fancy?"

"Exceptionally. I felt underdressed," she looked down at the green dress she wore. It looked beautiful on her; hugging her curves and making her eyes pop.

"I doubt you were, you look great. I would know, I practically dressed you."

"I dressed myself, Cessily. You merely enhanced it with cosmetics."

"...Touché. Now, what happened after this? You were gone for hours, that can't be all you did."

"After we ate, he took me to see a movie."

"What did you see?"

"I cannot remember. My focus was not on the movie."

"Are you implying what I think you're implying?"

"I believe so."

"Miss Kinney, I am shocked and proud all rolled into one."

Laura blushed slightly and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Later on," she continued, "We walked."

"Walked where?"

"Nowhere. We just... walked. And we talked. He held my hand," she smiled at the memory.

"And?" she said expectantly.

"He told me he loved me."

"And..? Wait, what?"

"Julian told me he loved me."

Cessily stared at her blankly trying to register this information.

"Cessily?" Laura looked at her with concern.

The metallic teen stared blankly, without a movement before jumping off of her bed and sprinting through her door and down the corridor. She skidded to a halt in front of Julian and Santo's shared room.

She burst through the door and was met by looks of shock from the two boys. She ran over to Julian and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Julian, you didn't screw this up on me! Aww, I love ya!"

"Umm, you're welcome?" he looked up confusedly at his friend.

She ran back out the door as quickly as she entered.

"...Is it wrong that I'm jealous right now?" Santo asked Julian.

"Yes, yes it is."

**Back to Cessily**

When Cessily returned to her room, she was met by a worried Laura,

"Cessily? Cessily? Are you alright?"

"Brilliant!" Aww, I'm so happy for you!" she pulled the clawed girl into a tight hug, spinning her around.

"I appreciate your joy over my romantic relationship. However I would appreciate it more if you would put me down."

Cessily looked down to see that she had in fact lifted Laura off her feet.

"Oh, sorry," she released her, and she dropped to the ground with a _thud._

"I'm just so happy for you. And with everything you've been through, no one deserves it more that you do."

"I disagree," she said sadly, looking to the floor.

"Laura," Cessily grabbed her arm, "No one can blame you for what you did. It wasn't your fault. And I know you and you are a _good person, _Laura Kinney and no one can take that away from you."

Laura was silent, but her eyes welled up with tears. She flung her arms around her friend and whispered,

"Thank you. So much."

Cessily was taken aback from the uncharacteristic expression of affection from Laura, but wrapped her arms around the girl's waist and returned the hug.

"I mean it. Every word."

They broke apart and stared at each other, before starting to laugh.

"We are such weirdos."

"But we are 'weirdos' together."

"Very true."

They sat back down on Cessily's bed and continued chatting.

"Did anything of importance happen in my absence?" Laura asked, after describing in exceptional detail, her night.

"Oh, nothi..." Cessily stopped halfway through her sentence.

"Cessily? Is something wrong?"

"...I think I nearly made out with Santo."

**A/N: I was trying to link it back to the last chapter with the final line. So, more Santo/Cessily fluff? Yay or nay? What do you think?**

**DISCLAIMER: IF YOU HAVEN'T GOTTEN THE PICTURE ALREADY, I'M AMAZED YOU CAN EVEN READ THIS. I MEAN REALLY, I MUST'VE DONE THIS A GOOD 17 TIMES IN THIS SERIES ALONE. **


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